Fountain pen



F. MOORE FOUNTAIN PEN Original F'iied Dec.

Ill

Patented June 7, 1938 l FOUNTAIN PEN Fred Moore, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Wahl Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Bela- Ware Application December 14,1933, Serial No. 702,321 Renewed November 11, 1937 7 Claims. (Cl. 1290-46) This invention relates to fountain pens of the A more detailed understanding of the invention kind having self-contained filling means. may be gathered from the illustrative embodiment A general object of the invention is the prowhich is shown in the drawing, and which will vision of an improved construction for such a peri now be described.

which will have large ink capacity for its size, The construction here illustrated includes a which comprises few and simple parts which are sleeve lll which constitutes part of the pen seceasily assembled, which may be manipulated with tion, the feed bar II and pen point l2 being facility in the filling operation, and in which the mounted therein in a customaryfashion. The filling mechanism is both durable and susceptible sleeve l has a reduced portion HlV adapted to 10 of replacement easily and at vbut very little it retentively Within the lower'end of the tubular 10:

expense. barrel l5, the bearing areas of these two parts Another object is the provision of an improved being suiciently close and extensive to secure construction for apen of the type specified which them against wabbling. The upper portionV of admits of the relative quantity of its ink conthe sleeve member is still further reduced exter- 1'5 tent being ascertained by visual observation. nally to form a peripherally grooved nipple I6. f57V Other and further objects of the invention will A flexible elastic tubular or hollow member l?, be pointed out or indicated hereinafter, or will such as a section of strong rubber tubing, hasv be apparent upon an understanding of the invenits lower end portion disposed in encompassing tion or its employment in use. relationship to the nipple I6 and tightly bound c For the purpose of aiding in a disclosure of the thereto by a constricting band i8. The diameter 2o invention, I show in the accompanying drawing of the tubular member il approximates theinforming a part of this specification, and hereinternal diameter of the barreLbutsaid member is after described, certain structural forms in which of a length such as to occupy only a portion of it may be embodied. It is to be understood, the length of the barrel. Theup'perA end portion however, that these are presented merely by way of the tubular member encompasses the lower 2'5 of illustration and are not to be construed in any portion of a rotatable sleeve lilgand is Vtightly fashion calculated to limit the appended claims l bound thereto by a constraining band 20, said short of the true and most comprehensive scope sleeve i9 being of sufficiently small diameter to of the invention in the art. admit of its being readily moved in the barrel.

In said drawing, To the upper end portion of the sleeve I9 is 3'() Fig. 1 is an elevational view of an assembled Xedly secured, as by cementing, a hollow unit which includes the filling mechanism, same manipulating member 2l, which occupies the being divested of the barre1 or housing'portions; upper portion of the barrel and 'extends bevond Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View illustratthe upper end thereof, Said manipulating meming the complete pen assembly, with the excepber being closed at its upper @Ild- It iS 0f gen- 35*` tion of the pen point cap; erally cylindrical form, conforming to the size Fig. 3 is a part longitudinal section showing the and contour of the barrel cavity, and is movable relationship of parts at one phase of the filling therein. This manipulating member 2! iS formed operation; of a suitable rigid transparent or'translucent ma- 40 Fig. 4 is a detail in the nature of a part longiterial such as pyroxylin. In the constructions 40 tudinal section illustrating a modified feature; illustrated in Figs.V 1 2 and 3, il? S formed With a and peripheral groove Ela, which receivesfreely a Fig. 5 is a detail illustrating an alternative feaspring detent ring 22.' This ring is mounted in ture of construction. n an internal groove in the barrel and retained in Described generally, the invention provides aplace by a bushing 24 which is screwed into the 4:5VK

manipulable lling element which includes an upper end of the barrel. The detent ring does elastically collapsible or deformable tubular or not clutch the manipulating member to the barrel hollow member which forms a part of the ink but normally holds them against ,relative longireservoir or container, together with a. manually tudinal movement, while permitting them free operable portion whereby the elastic member rotary movement relative to each other. By ap- 50 may be operated. This manually operable memplication of suiiicient `longitudinal pressure to ber forms a part of the ink reservoir or container the manipulating member, the spring detent ring and is transparent or translucent so that the may be cammed out of the groove, thus allowing presence of ink in the ink reservoir may be visrelative longitudinal movement of the two porually ascertained. tions, as in assembling or disassembling. 5154 The bushing 24 vhas a screw-threaded partV which extends beyond the upper end of the barrel and which affords a mounting fora cap 25 which,

when `in place thereon, houses the projecting Yupperend portion of the manipulating member.

The feed bar II has a restricted ink feed duct VIIa appropriately associated with the pen point,

said duct opening at its upper end'in communication withtheinternal cavity of the flexible elastic tubular member I1. The feed bar is also `provided with a passage AI IP of larger iiow capacity than the ink feed duct, which c'ommunicates with the ink feed duct II e at a substantial Vdistance from the upper endof the Y latter.

Mounted in the feed bar and communicating With' the passage I I lo.is aislender bly-pass tube 26 which extends upwardly, on approximatelyA the axis of., they pen, within the flexible elastic memberA I1, .sleeve I9 and manipulating member 2|, and terminates a short distance from theupper end of Vthe' latter.; g l Q -,By virtuek of the.v construction, thek conjoined flexible member I1 and ymanipulating member'r 2I form an elongated tubular receptacle or ink reservoir which` is closed atrits upper end Yand has communication at its lower end with the ink feed duct Ila. It willbeobservedthat the capacity of this ink reservoir represents a Very considerable-proportion of the cubic capacity of the penV shaft, and it is desirable that the rigid sectionA 'formed by the member 2l and sleeve I9 be of somewhat greater capacity than the collapsible section-'formed by the member I1, so as to accommodate upward displacement of ink from the member I1 when it is collapsed.

y,Inthe'assembly of the pen, the unit illustrated in ,Figf 1, having'beenV assembled as above describedZ theupper end of the manipulating meml ber is inserted in the lower end of the barrel i5 and is slid longitudinally therethrough. ,InV this operation` the by-pass tube 26 may Vfunction as a stopto limit the extent to which the .manipulating member maybe displaced Y,longitudinally toward the pen section, and `act as a pusherto pro*- pel the upper'portion of the manipulatingrmember to a point where-it may be grasped and drawn` outwardly'until the d etent ring seats in the groove 2Ia, the pen section sleeve I meanwhile being pushed into Vthe lower end of the barreL'where it seats securely. The unitV likewise may be withdrawn from the barrel by pressing the projecting porton of the manipulating member inwardly and withdrawing the pen section sleeve from the barrel.

lin the modined constructioniuustrated in Fig. 4', the detent groove is formed inthe sleeve IS',

Vinstead of inthe manipulating Vmember itself.

In this modification as well as in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 Vand 3, the sleeve I9 or I9 constitutes a reinforcement Vfor the lower end oi' the hollow manipulating member,Y as well as a manipulation, of its yupper end portion. '1 5 connection between it andthe tubular member I1. "However, as illustratedin Fig. 5,Y this sleeve may be dispensed with'and the lower end Vportion ofthe manipulatingY member may be somewhat reduced and formed with a peripheralr groove and thetubular member I1 may be connected directly to it. l f

To effect the lling operation, the cap- 25 having been removed, the portions of the pen pointV and feed bar which project beyond the lower end of the sleeve I0 are immersed in a body ofY ink, and the manipulating member 2l is rotated by This causes a twisting Yand collapsing of the tubular member I1, approximately as illustrated in Fig.

3. This has the effect of reducing the capacity y of the ink reservoir, a portion of its air content vbeing expelled through by-pass tube 26 and ink feed duct 20a. Upon restoration ofthe manipulating member toits normal position, as by the elastic reaction of the twisted tubularmember I1, the normal capacity ofthe ink reservoir is restored, this resulting inan air pressure dilferen- Y vtial as between theV interior ofthe reservoir andV I the surface of the body of ink in which the feed bar is immersed. As a consequence, the superior air pressure ontthe body of ink will force some of the fluid upwardly through the ink feed channel and intothe. reservoir, some of Yit also The operation of collapsing the sac and effecting its restoration to normal distended condition is repeated. With each collapsing operation a portion of the air remaining in the reservoir is expelled through the by-pass tube, and; with 'each restoratio-nof the tubular member YI1 toits 'nor-L mal distended position a further quantityr of ink will be caused to enter the reservoir. With each collapsing `of the tubular member1v I1 such ink as is in the lower portionA of the by-pass tubewill beforced out ahead of the air, and therewillnecesf sarily be some increase of pressure von the'surface vof the ink column in the reservoir@k Howeveninl;

is freelyv displaced upwardly into themember 2l from tube I1k when the latter is being collapsed and less resistance is offered to the outflow o f air from member 2| through the tube 26 and the ink feed duct, than to outow ofV ink fromthe` ink reservoir through the ink feed duct and the air pressure in the ink feed duct from the passage IIbr will oppose, or in partcounterbalance, .theVV pressure at .the upper endY of the ink feed duct.

Consequently, while there will be lsome ink ejected Vat each collapsing of the tubular member i1, itk will-be considerably less in volume than the quan-v tity of sairfejected, 1 and likewise less than the quantity of ink wl'iichY enters the reservoir inci-v dent to the restorationtof thetubular member to normal position. As a result,; therefore, the ink t reservoir may be filled by repeated operations of the manipulating member. By observationjof the transparent or translucent projecting portion of the manipulating member,it'may be ascertained when the reservoir is full. Likewise, the cap being removed and the pen held horizontally, the extent to which the reservoir is filled with inkmay y be ascertained by observation ofthe Ytransparent projecting portion of the manipulatingmember. It has been pointed out that the construction provides a self-lling pen having a large ink capacity.

Itrwill be observed, moreover, that it alsopermits the use of a collapsing member which is relatively short in comparison to the length of the reser voir. 'This isof advantagein that it renders the elastic member quick-,actingfin its'restoring movement. It will be appreciated that in the absence'of means which is effective to holdfthe manipulating member againstilongitudinal move` 1 f ment, the lling operationmay be'accomplished bythe collapsing and restoration of "the lilexiblle'Y tubular member I1 longitudinally through lohgi-f 15 Y entering the lower portion of the byfpass tube 26.V w

having its lower end secured to said pen section, a stiff hollow manipulating member secured to the upper end of said tubular member, said manipulating member being closed at its upper end and having its cavity in communication with the cavity of the tubular member so that in conjunction they form an extended ink reservoir, said manipulating member being operable to flex the tubular member and thereby vary the content capacity of said reservoir, and a stiff by-pass tube carried by the pen section and extending longitudinally in the reservoir and adapted for engagement with the upper end of the manipulating member to limit displacement of same toward the pen section during intrusion of the reservoir in the barrel.

2. In a fountain pen, the combination of a tubular barrel open at both ends, a pen section adapted for attachment to the lower end of the barrel and affording a passage for flow of ink to the pen point, and a reservoir attached to the upper end of the pen section and movable in the barrel, said reservoir comprising a collapsible tubular section which is open at both ends and is connected at its lower end to the pen section and a rigid tubular section which is closed at its upper end and has its open lower end connected with the upper end of the collapsible section so that conjointly they form a continuous tubular receptacle, said reservoir being of such diameter that it may be inserted through the lower end of the barrel and being of such length that when the pen section is attached to the lower end of the barrel the upper end portion of the rigid section projects beyond the upper end of the barrel to an extent permitting it to be grasped by the fingers.

3. In a fountain pen, a structure as specified in claim 2 and wherein the rigid tubular section oi the reservoir has peripheral bearing cooperation with the bore wall of the tubular barrel, and the projecting end portion of said rigid section is manually operable to collapse the collapsible section. f

4. A fountain pen as specified in claim 2 and including also a slender by-pass tube having its lower end fixed in the pen section and communieating with the ink-flow passage thereof, said tube extending upwardly in the reservoir through the collapsible section thereof and into the rigid section thereof.

5. A fountain pen as specified in claim 2 and wherein the ink-holding capacity of the rigid section of the reservoir is greater than that of the collapsible section, and a slender by-pass tube is mounted in the pen section in communication with the ink-flow passage thereof, said tube extending upwardly in the reservoir through the collapsible section thereof and into the rigid section thereof.

6. In a fountain pen, a combination as specied in claim 2 and wherein the upper end portion of the rigid reservoir section is sufficiently translucent to permit presence of ink therein to be visually ascertained.

'7. In a fountain pen, a combination as specied in claim 2 and wherein the collapsible section is collapsible by longitudinal plied to the projecting end portion of said rigid section. Y

FRED MOORE.

movement ofv the rigid section in the barrel from pressure ap- 

